^ +1

i am looking at ~60k BIS 100% domestic spend in 2012. however my total spend is probably around $4-5k not $7k

dont they do that by segment qualification already?

The person who flies SFO-LAX back and forth 60x a year earns only 60000 miles, yet gets 1k as a gift anyway.

All I want is removal of the W+ restriction for GPUs. It is absurd that we should have to play upgrade roulette to use these hard earned instruments.

And people spending more are not necessarily more valuable anyway. As I have pointed out before, if you book the last ticket in V class the next guy is being forced to buy Q class BECAUSE you bought the last V class ticket. Filling the seats is more important than the total spending by an individual.

The only people who are REALLY worth more are those that are buying higher fare class tickets even though lower fare classes are still available.

^

I take 4-5 TPA-BKK per year @ 21,000 miles. Thanks for your support :D

120 segments deserves 1K from wear & tear, personally I would not call it a gift. Plus has probably spent >$12K (more than some).

I concur. Definitely not a gift. Especially this year.

Two TPAC trips per year. Sayonara with good riddance. Exactly why a revenue system would work.

I like your business model - alienate customers, and voluntarily give up revenue. ^ Surely the best way to go for a business to stay profitable :p

But even in that scenario, if a person buys Q, the next person will simply buy V.

It seems to me that, as long as Economy is (nearly) full, UA simply gets the revenue it wants, regardless of how much each individual customer spends. A revenue-based model for economy travelers doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense this way. UA would simply be giving a freebie to the people who book late. It might create an incentive for people to try to book as late as possible, or it might create an incentive for people to book into a higher fare class, but in the end, the total revenue will be largely the same. For every person who pays more, another person pays less.

Carrying this a step forward, if FT'ers game the system by buying into a higher fare class, the regular economy travelers would end up with the cheaper tickets, and they would not have a chance at achieving status. They might as well then travel with an airline that does offer them a reasonable opportunity for status.

Carrying this another step forward, UA would benefit from a revenue based program only if it could fill all seats on all planes with people who purposely buy into a higher fare class. But that's just not going to happen. There just aren't enough people who are able and willing to do that.

I would argue there would be very few "people" who would do that voluntarily - its irrational, people dont want to spend more money than they have to.

Now, there would perhaps be companies/businesses that may spend more than they have to for whatever reason (flexibility, etc), but that is not rational for a person out of pocket.

Depsite what some believe here - most of the plane is filled by people who are rational buyers, and will always choose lowest price, and would weigh benefits if choosing a higher priced ticket.

Sounds like people proposing a revenue system have never actually bought a ticket for themselves out of their own pocket.

Agreed! I'm only a Lowly Gold and I'm going to close out the year with around 60 segments ... That's enough of a grind. 120 is brutal.

Not sure I'd come to the same conclusion but my thoughts don't lie too far away.

Those preferring a revenue system generally have others purchasing the preponderance of their fares. Should airlines go in that direction I'd be content if the purchaser reaped the FF rewards rather than the flyer (should they not be the same entity).

Life is tough for segment folks. I'll be one or two segments over 150 when the year comes to an end. Thankfully I spent 75%+ of my RJ segments in an E-145 where I was able to get the single A seat most flights. Those that do segments on a CRJ-200 are the true warriors. If only they'd reduce the segment thresholds, wishful thinking I suppose.

^
impossible to implement unfortunately - but is the only fair solution to a revenue based system.

I'm in a similar boat. I should be at 140 segments/$17k spend by year end, all domestic with lots of RJ airtime. The CRJ2 is a nightmare but the 145 isn't much better IMO. The seats are just horribly uncomfortable unless you snag 12A.